I need to make a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream this weekend and will be using a mix. I do not really eat chocolate cake myself, so I don't know the difference between all of the varieties - devil's food, milk chocolate, chocolate fudge, triple chocolate, etc. I usually prefer Pillsbury for yellow/white varieties, and have not had great experiences with Duncan Hines. (I have never used Betty Crocker.) Any recommendations?? I know I do not want dark chocolate, and would prefer to just use a straight mix rather than a doctored recipe. Thank you!

If you don't want dark chocolate, then stay away from devil's food or fudge type recipes.

I doctor Betty Crocker mixes all the time. Standard pudding mix-in (mix + sm instant pudding, 3/4c milk, 3/4c oil, 4 eggs) The result is a nicely moist but sturdy cake for decorating.

The range of chocolate flavors is based on how intense you want the chocolate flavor. Milk chocolate is the mildest, chocolate fudge or devil's food are much darker. The Triple Chocolate from BC has chocolate chips mixed into a choco fudge mix.

Is the cake for chocolate lovers? Go with the devil's food or choco fudge.
Is it for a kids' party where it needs to appeal to a wide range of tastes? Try the milk chocolate.

HTH
Kristy

I'm not a big Duncan Hines fan either. I like the Pillsbury devil's food or their regular chocolate. I usually make a doctored recipe but the plane mix is good too.

I love the BC's Triple Chocolate! I found it is a great chocolate cake that I don't even feel the need to doctor up. It tends to be the flavor I am most asked for.

Thanks everyone... this helps a lot!

In my experience, I've found milk chocolate to be the lightest chocolate, with Devil's Food having a bit more chocolate and CHocolate FUdge to be the "ultimate" chocolate.

I prefer the Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge bcause it's firmer. The milk chocolate and devils food flavored cakes are too "bouncy" for me. And I like my cakes to be firm and solid, not light and bouncy .... especially when I'm flipping a 14" one!

I love DH Devil's Food! Add a small pkg. of instant chocolate pudding, 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup oil, and 4 eggs (Darn Good Chocolate Cake). It is my BEST selling cake and my go to chocolate cake recipe.

Like the original poster, I don't have alot of knowledge on chocolate cakes. If I were doing a german chocolate cake, which chocolate flavor mix would be the closest to flavor and color if doctored? Is the flavor strong enough to use as my regular chocolate cake recipe or does german chocolate have a mild taste?

They don't sell german chocolate or milk chocolate mix in the supermarkets near me; I could try a couple more markets outside my area.

yummy - you may want to look at the Pillsbury and Betty Crocker websites if you haven't already. Both have product locators so you can see if there are any stores nearby that carry a specific flavor.

Thank you Marla84; I've done that for other flavors and I'll check it out again sometime today. This thread just happened to come along when I was wondering the same things; the op was right on time with this.

Does anyone have an answer to my above ?'s about german chocolate flavors?

I use Betty Crocker Chocolate fudge cake mix. The triple chocolate has chocolate chips added which I don't really like especially if I will be carving the cake. I don't like Pillsbury cakes at all but will use Duncan Hines in a pinch.